Updated at 6:33 p.m.
After less than a year on the job, Champlain College’s president is stepping down.
Benjamin Ola. Akande has decided to “accept a leadership role at a major financial services firm” in St. Louis, Missouri, according to an email he sent to the college community Wednesday morning.
“This offers an opportunity for me to join an organization that I have long revered and one that is highly respected for its enduring success and insightful leadership. The return to my adopted home of St. Louis was an important consideration, as well as the opportunity to reunite with my family,” he wrote.
Akande took over at the private Burlington college July 1, 2020, and is resigning effective May 31.
The Board of Trustees has named Dave Finney, a former Champlain president, to serve as interim president effective June 1, board Chair Charlie Kittredge wrote in a subsequent email blast. Finney led the college from 2005 to 2014 and rejoined the institution in February as a consultant to the president, the board chair said. He added that the board would be “working with the campus community on plans to conduct a search to select Champlain’s next President.”
“We are grateful for Benjamin’s many contributions to Champlain and are sorry to see him leave,” Kittredge wrote in the email. “In a time of change and disruption in higher education, Benjamin’s efforts and accomplishments in service to Champlain’s students leave the College in a strong position.”
It is not the first time the college’s leader has decamped with little notice. Donald Laackman, who held the top spot for 5 years, abruptly resigned in 2019. He exited just weeks after his departure was announced.
As a nonprofit entity, Champlain College must disclose the salaries of its highest-paid executives on its publicly available federal tax returns. But these forms are usually at least a year old when they are released, and the most recent form 990 available for Champlain is from the 2018-19 fiscal year, before Akande’s arrival. His predecessor, Laackman, received a $377,576 salary that year and additional benefits worth $72,740.
A spokesperson for the college on Wednesday declined to provide details of Akande’s compensation.
“President Akande’s salary is commensurate with presidential salaries in higher education,” Stephanie Kloss, Champlain’s director of media, wrote in an email.
